News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-10-13
The Climate of California.

The Climate of California.
If it is subject of as much inter-
est to others of New England as 1t
was of surprise to me, as fresh from
that land alike of happy associations
and climatic extremes, L was I'M
pressed with the fullness OF this one
of natures blessings, l will not be
blamed for selecting it as a SUBJECT
upon which to write.
Participating with South Carolina
and Georgia in the rays of an almost
tropical sun, and enjoying with Mas
sachusetts and New Jersey that gold
en- mean between a torrid and frigid !
temperature, while for depth of snow
and degree of cold the elevated re-
gions in and around the Sierras are
eclipsed by no inhabited country, Cal
ifornia can surely be to no difficulty
in proving its climatic pre-eminence.
Owing to the several warm oceanic
currents which wash its shores, the
winters on the coast and in those
parts of the interior not effected by
elevation, are much warmer and the
summers much cooler than on the at
lantic coast in corresponding ATTITUDES.
The principal one of these currents,
the Kurosivo or North Pacific current,
a stream six hundred miles wide with
an unvarying ter perature of fifty de-
grees, imparts nearly its own temper
ature of fifty degrees, to the so called
trade winds, which for seven months
in the year continue to move from
sea to land over its surface, supplying
to the coast regions, and in greater
or less degree to every part of the
State, fresh, salutary atmosphere of
such a temperature as greatly to miti-
gate the heat of summer and the cold
of winter, and giving to some parts
Of the coast a more equable tempera-
AZURE than can be found in any other
part of the globe. In the city of San
Francisco the average temperature for
the month of July is 81 degrees and
for January 40 degrees, making diff
ference of only eight degrees between
the means of the warmest and cold
est months; whereas in London, prob
ably the most equable city in Europe,
between the means of the same
months there is difference of 25 de-
grees, and in New York As. AS the
distance is increased north or south
from San Francisco the seasons be-
come gradually, but slightly, more
marked. Los Angeles, in the same
latitude as Wilmington, South Caro-
lima, has for July mean temperature
of IS degrees, and for January 81 de-
grees. Eureka, with the latitude Of
New York City, is very seldom visit
ed by snow, and frost never appears,
except, perhaps, an occasional night
frost. OF that portion of the State
included in the Valley of the Sacra-
mento and San Joaquin rivers, climat-
ically, not as much can be said. The
region, being by the interposition of
the coast ranges, deprived to great
extent Of the modifying influences of
the sea breezes, has an intense sum-
mer heat, even in the northern por-
ton. There, however, as elsewhere
throughout the State, the nights are
always cool, the atmosphere is always
balmy and invigorating and that OPP
pressive WEAKNESS and feeling of ex-
haustion so generally experienced
during the warm months of other
countries is entirely unknown. To
these causes, chiefly, is due the great
er physical endurance Of man and
beast. In this climate people are ca
pable of greater and longer continued
mental and physical exertion than in
that of the East, and if my rule of
comparison be rot wrong, instances
of longevity are much more common.
A good constitution is enduring,
but there is such variety to the eli
mate of the State that invalids COM
ing here for relief must with great
| 80 selnct that Iona1ify, Tho ~Ii',~t~ 80
which IS best adapted to their partic-
ular ailment. For invalids suffering
from diseases of the respiratory Or
gans, to come to San Francisco would
be little less than suicide. On the
coast, and generally throughout the
northern part of the State, the at
mosphere is too heavy, too crude, and
contains too much moisture for inva-
lids of this class. They will find the
best climate in the southern part of
the State, not too near the coast, and
if possible in an elevation of two or
three thousand feet. In nearly the
whole of that part of the State south
of San Jose there is not sufficient rain
fall for agricultural purposes, render
ing irrigation necessary.
With regard to the relative degree
of humidity, the year is divided into
two seasons, the dry and the wet.
The dry season comprises the six
months from May to October, inclu-
sive. During this season rain seldom
falls anywhere in the State, except in
the mountainous districts of the nor
thern portion, and there only during
the first and toward the last of the
season. And throughout the State,
except on the western slopes of the
coast hills, where there is much fog
and dew. the moisture supplied by the
winter rains, though it is we'll reserved
by the deep soil, is not sufficient for
the support of vegetable growth long
er than to the latter part of June;
therefore, during the remainder of
this season, the State, were it not for
the orchards, vineyards and fields of
ripening grain, would present bar
rem and dreary appearance. The wet
season begins with November, but
generally there are only slight show
ers before December. This season is
much the pleasantest half of the year.
From its being called the wet season
the inference is sometimes drawn that
it has little or no sunshine, or at least
that wet weather is the rule; but this
is by no means the case. Proportion
ately this season has no more rainy
days than a New England summer,
and in a greater part of the State not
as many. A few days Of rain are fol-
lowed by weeks of as pleasant wealth
er as can easily be conceived. The
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